Dennis Rea
Encyclopedia
Dennis Rea is an American guitarist
, writer and music event organizer currently living in Seattle. Rea first came to prominence as a member of the electronic music
group Earthstar
in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is probably best known in the West as a musician for his work with the quintet Moraine and with Jeff Greinke
in Land
. Rea's first solo album, Shadow In Dreams (1990), is notable as one of the first releases in mainland China by a western musician on the state record label.
Rea has collaborated with Hector Zazou
, Trey Gunn
(formerly of King Crimson
), and current REM and former Ministry
drum
mer Bill Rieflin.
Rea's music ranges from jazz to adventurous rock to world music to electronic music. He has performed on three continents at events including the WOMAD Festival, Beijing International Jazz Festival, NEARfest
, Bumbershoot Arts Festival
, and the Earshot Jazz Festival
. He also served as the co-director of the annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival for over a decade.
, Illinois
, Rea grew up in Utica
, New York. He first took up the guitar at the age of nine, inspired by Mike Nesmith of The Monkees
, not realizing that the band did not even play their own instruments at the time.
Two of Rea's most important influences were the György Ligeti
compositions on the 2001: A Space Odyssey
soundtrack and the King Crimson
album In the Court of the Crimson King
. In a 2001 interview in Exposé magazine Rea comments on the impact on his music: "The former opened my ears to expanded conceptions of form and tonality and to the world of 'extended' instrumental technique, and Ligeti remains my favorite composer to this day. The latter showed me that rock music could be so much more than the usual foursquare pounding with juvenile lyrics."
Other music which influenced Rea's development included progressive rock
and jazz
bands Gentle Giant
, Matching Mole
, Van der Graaf Generator
, Henry Cow
, and Centipede
. He credits King Crimson and Soft Machine
with his abiding interest in modern jazz and credits his brother with introducing him to the music of Miles Davis
, John Coltrane
, Eric Dolphy
, Albert Ayler
, and Ornette Coleman
. Rea also cites experimental
classical
composer
s Krzysztof Penderecki
, Karlheinz Stockhausen
, and John Cage
as lasting influences. Guitarists who influenced Rea's playing style include John Abercrombie
, Terje Rypdal
, John McLaughlin
, and Ralph Towner
In the early 1970s Rea formed what he describes as an "eccentric progressive rock
band", Zuir, with bassist
Norm Peach
and drum
mer Daniel Zongrone
. The three young musicians decided to skip college to pursue their musical careers. In 1975
the trio moved to Seattle but found no more interest in their music than they had found in upstate New York, returning to Utica the following year. In an interview in Exposé Magazine Rea recalled that Zuir was "perhaps the first out-of-state rock band to seek its fortune in Seattle - only 20 years too early."
. A native of Utica, New York, Wuest was heavily influenced by the German electronic music scene of the 1970s, including Klaus Schulze
, Popol Vuh
, Tangerine Dream
, Kraftwerk
, and Harmonia
. Earthstar was born out of the partnership of Wuest and the members of Zuir, plus other Utica-area musicians. In 1977 Earthstar was signed by Nashville
-based Moontower Records, who released the group's first album, Salterbarty Tales
, the following year. Earthstar also began recording its second album, French Skyline
, in 1978. Rea recalls concerts during the period when Earthstar was in Utica: "The group performed live only a handful of times, mostly at inappropriate venues like roadhouse bars and college beer halls, with predictable results."
Craig Wuest was an admirer of electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze
, with whom he struck up a correspondence. Schulze encouraged Wuest and Earthstar to come to Germany. Wuest sold his grand piano, which had played a prominent part on Salterbarty Tales, to finance the move. Rea and other Earthstar musicians joined Wuest in Germany to continue work on French Skyline. Rea describes his own decision to travel to Germany in his 2006 book Live At The Forbidden City:
Earthstar was signed by Hamburg
-based Sky Records
, who released the group's next three albums beginning with French Skyline in 1979
. Earthstar is notable as the only American band who participated in Germany's Kosmische Musik/electronic music
scene while still at its height. The association with Klaus Schulze guaranteed Earthstar recognition and respectable record sales by German electronic music standards.
During parts of 1979 and 1980 Rea lived near the town of Celle
. In addition to guitar he played chorded zither
and piano
during subsequent Earthstar sessions and composed pieces which appeared on the third album, Atomkraft? Nein, Danke!
(1981), and on tracks for a fourth album, Sleeper, the Nightlifer, which was never released. Rea left Earthstar after the Sleeper, the Nightlifer sessions and did not appear on the group's final album.
musician and composer Jeff Greinke
, with whom he would later collaborate extensively.
In 1983 Rea moved to New York City where he once again worked with ex-Zuir and Earthstar member Daniel Zongrone. The pair composed music for an exhibition of painter (and former Earthstar violin
ist) Daryl Trivieri's work at the Semaphore East Gallery in the East Village
in 1985.
Rea returned to Seattle in late 1986. There he co-directed the second Seattle Improvised Music Festival. He also added guitar work to Wally Shoup
's 1987 release Upright and to Doug Haire's solo album Locale, which was released in 1992. During this period Rea played with the bands Color Anxiety and Calabatics, with whom he recorded tracks which appeared on compilation albums of Seattle bands in 1988. Later that year Rea played guitar on the soundtrack of the motion picture Shredder Orpheus, composed by Roland Barker. Barker, Bill Rieflin, and Amy Denio
also took part in the sessions.
, China after his fiancée, Anne Joiner, accepted a teaching position at Chengdu University of Science & Technology as part of an academic exchange. Rea also accepted a position teaching English at the university. Rea was approached to perform for the university's guitar club and a young Chinese guitarist, Zhao Xiong, was in attendance. Zhao, who proceeded to take lessons from Rea, was president of the informal Chengdu Guitar Association and he arranged for Rea to perform at venues ranging from schools to the Worker's Cultural Palace and even a textile factory. During this time Rea began interpreting traditional Chinese music which continues to influence his current works. In late spring, 1989, Rea also lectured twice at the Sichuan Music Conservatory, which he described as "the hub of music education in southwest China and Tibet": once on jazz, once on electric guitar technique.
In the wake of the events of June 4-June 6, 1989 in Tiananmen Square
and the civil unrest and violence in Chengdu which he witnessed first hand, Rea was one of less than a dozen foreigners still living in the city. To his "lasting embarrassment" he was portrayed on Chinese state television as one of a few "brave foreign friends who stayed through the conflict to show their support for the government's policies."
In late 1989 Rea was granted permission to organize two concerts for students at the university. He was also invited to the studios of state-owned Sichuan Radio to make a multitrack recording which was broadcast throughout the province, and also began to collaborate with well-known regional musicians.
n January 1990 Rea played guitar in support of controversial Chinese pop star Zhang Xing in concerts in Chengdu and Chongqing
, making him an instant celebrity in China. In the spring of that year Rea was approached to record and produce an album of his music for state-owned China Records. His first solo album, Shadow In Dreams, was made in just four days at China Records' Chengdu studio. It was released on cassette that summer and sold over 40,000 copies throughout the country. The recording was listed among the ten best releases of 1990 by the Communist Party newspaper China Youth Daily
.
. He formed the band Identity Crisis, mainly with other expatriate musicians. Identity Crisis played roughly 30 shows over the winter of 1990-1991 and had a small, largely expatriate following. They found more receptive audiences in mainland China thanks to an invitation to perform by Chinese rocker Cui Jian
.
Identity Crisis arrived in Beijing
in early April, 1991, where they played a number of public and private performances over a 10-day period, including shows featuring Chinese rock bands such as Cobra and ADO, as well as Cui Jian himself. Cui Jian joined Identity Crisis on stage during one performance at Maxim's. The band then moved on to Chengdu for ten days where Rea arranged five sizable university concerts, a concert staged by Chengdu TV, and smaller performances at a few local bars and pubs. Identity Crisis was also invited by Yang Shichun, who had produced Shadow In Dreams, to record an album for the China Record Company. The release was ultimately blocked by company officials in Beijing for political reasons as Yang had not received proper clearance for an album by a foreign artists. Upon their return to Tainan the members of Identity Crisis found that interest in the band had increased dramatically as a result of their association with Cui Jian.
In the fall of 1991 Rea received an invitation to perform and represent the United States in the China International TV Festival. The Vagaries were a new group Rea assembled specifically for the occasion which included keyboardist
/saxophonist
Roland Barker, drummer Bill Rieflin, keyboardist/vocalist Charley Rowan, and electric bassist Mike Davidson, with rehearsals taking place in Seattle. In addition to the CCTV appearance, which was viewed by hundreds of millions of people in China and neighboring countries, The Vagaries toured China with 20 concerts in the cities of Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming
, and Guangzhou
(Canton).
In 1992 a crackdown on expatriate musicians by Taiwanese officials caused Identity Crisis to disband. Rea continued to perform with other groups he assembled and continued to teach English until he moved back to Seattle in February 1993.
, an ambient musician and composer Rea first met in Seattle in the early 1980s, put together a new ensemble called Land
. Greinke had previously been known for his textured compositions but with Land he wanted "to push this layering technique using a four piece band..." Rea and trumpet
er Lesli Dalaba were original members and were soon joined by drummer Ed Pias. Rea remained with the group throughout its lifespan. He described Land's music as "an odd blend of jazz, rock, electronic, and world music
." in 1993 Rea also supported Greinke on sessions for his solo album Big Weather, released in 1994, adding guitar work to two tracks. Land's eponymous debut album
was recorded in 1994 and released by the Australian Extreme label in 1995. All of Land's albums started out as live radio broadcasts with, according to Rea, "...very little re-recording or cosmetic surgery after the fact, so they are accurate representations of the band's live sound."
A May, 1996 concert broadcast formed the basis for most of Land's second album, Archipelago
. Later that year Rea arranged for Land to tour China, performing in Beijing, Kunming, and Chengdu, as well as Hong Kong
and Macau
, in November and December. The tour included a performance at the Beijing International Jazz Festival. Rea also performed with Land's Lesli Dalaba (trumpet), guzheng
virtuoso Wang Yong, Austrian violinist Andreas Schreiber, Dutch
drummer Han Bennink, and Claudio Puntin and Steffen Schorn on horns at Keep In Touch, reportedly China's first internet cafe
. The jam session produced a mixture of American style free jazz
and European influenced improvisation blended at times with traditional Chinese music. The results were captured on the album Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in Touch
, which was released as a double CD in March, 2004. February 1997 also saw the recording of "Deep", the final track for Archipelago, with finishing touches completed in July. The album was released later that year. Rea also contributed guitar work to the track "Threads", which appeared on Greinke's 1998 album Swimming.
By 1998 Land had gone through a number of personnel changes and had developed a much harder-edged sound. Andrew Bartlett, writing in a 1999 article in Seattle Weekly
, described the music at that time, in part: "LAND's sound is a swirl — a clicking, cascading, jolting mix of sonorities and styles." Rea is quoted in the article: "The current lineup is more of a 'rock' band than earlier editions, and is much more explosive and in-your-face. Our connection with ambient music is pretty tenuous at this point." The final incarnation of the band, which recorded the album Road Movies
between June, 1998 and February 1999, included Greinke, Rea, Dalaba, bassist Fred Chalenor, and drummer Bill Rieflin, who had previously worked with Rea in The Vagaries and on the Shredder Orpheus soundtrack. Road Movies was not released until 2001. It was named one of the Top Ten releases of 2001 by Pulse! (Instrumental/Ambient) and the Seattle Weekly (Jazz). Lesli Dalaba decided to leave Land later that year and the remaining members agreed to part company amicably.
In February, 1993 Rea also joined The Furnace, the original band supporting veteran singer-songwriter Eric Apoe. The band gave its first performance on New Year's Eve that year. Rea played electric guitar on Songs of Love and Doom, released in 1996. In the wake of some personnel changes the band was renamed Eric Apoe and They. Rea performed on four additional albums: Dream Asylum (2000), Radioation (2002), Book of Puzzles (2005) and The Man in the Sun (2008), all released on the Soundtrack Boulevard label. Apoe describes his music with They as "...a blend of American and European Roots music" with a "...combination of electric and acoustic instruments..."
Between 1998 and 2001 Rea was also the leader of the improvisational free jazz quartet Stackpole, which won a Golden Ear award from Earshot Jazz magazine for Best Northwest Outside Jazz Group in 2000
. Stackpole released a self-titled album in 2001. During this period Rea also appeared on albums by Rik Wright and the duo of Craig Flory and Doug Haire. He also contributed to two tracks on the Infrasound Collective' compilation album Owasso Night Atlas, released in 2000. Rea contributed guitar work to the song "In the Middle of the Night" on Hector Zazou
's 2003 album Strong Currents.
In Earthstar
In Savant
In LAND
In Eric Apoe and They
In Stackpole
with Han Bennink
, Wang Yong, Andreas Schreiber,
Steffen Schorn, Claudio Puntin, and Lesli Dalaba
In Ting Bu Dong
In Moraine
In Iron Kim Style
Solo Albums
supporting Wally Shoup
supporting Doug Haire
supporting Jeff Greinke
supporting Eric Apoe
supporting Craig Flory and Doug Haire
supporting Rik Wright
supporting Hector Zazou
supporting Chekov
with Calabatics
with Infrasound Collective
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, writer and music event organizer currently living in Seattle. Rea first came to prominence as a member of the electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
group Earthstar
Earthstar (band)
Earthstar was an electronic music group originally from Utica, New York, in the United States. Earthstar was encouraged by Krautrock/Kosmische Musik/electronic music artist, composer, and producer Klaus Schulze to relocate to Germany where they were signed by Sky Records. Schulze produced their...
in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is probably best known in the West as a musician for his work with the quintet Moraine and with Jeff Greinke
Jeff Greinke
Jeff Greinke is an American ambient music and jazz artist and composer currently based in Tucson, Arizona. He is known as one of the pioneers of dark ambient music, with his earlier solo albums often compared to works by Robert Rich, Brian Eno, and Vidna Obmana...
in Land
Land (band)
Land was a Seattle based music group founded and led by Jeff Greinke. Their music is described by guitarist Dennis Rea as "an odd blend of jazz, rock, electronic, and world music." Land was active from 1993 until 2001 and released three albums...
. Rea's first solo album, Shadow In Dreams (1990), is notable as one of the first releases in mainland China by a western musician on the state record label.
Rea has collaborated with Hector Zazou
Hector Zazou
Hector Zazou was a prolific French composer and record producer who worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists...
, Trey Gunn
Trey Gunn
Trey Gunn is an American musician, known for his membership in progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003, playing Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick.-Biography:...
(formerly of King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
), and current REM and former Ministry
Ministry (band)
Ministry is an American industrial metal band founded by lead singer Al Jourgensen in 1981. Originally a synthpop outfit, Ministry changed its style to industrial metal in the late 1980s. Ministry found mainstream success in the early 1990s with its most successful album Psalm 69: The Way to...
drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
mer Bill Rieflin.
Rea's music ranges from jazz to adventurous rock to world music to electronic music. He has performed on three continents at events including the WOMAD Festival, Beijing International Jazz Festival, NEARfest
NEARfest
The North East Art Rock Festival, or NEARfest for short, is a multi-day event celebrating the resurgence of progressive and eclectic music in the United States and around the world. The event is held annually in early summer in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, approximately one hour north of Philadelphia...
, Bumbershoot Arts Festival
Bumbershoot
Bumbershoot is an annual international music and arts festival held in Seattle, Washington. One of North America's largest such festivals, it takes place every Labor Day weekend at the 74-acre Seattle Center, which was built for the 1962 World's Fair. Seattle Center includes indoor theaters,...
, and the Earshot Jazz Festival
Earshot Jazz
Earshot Jazz is a regional jazz non-profit organization in Seattle Washington. The organization publishes a free monthly journal in the Seattle area and hosts numerous jazz related events annually. The most prominent annual event is the Earshot Jazz Festival in October and November which started in...
. He also served as the co-director of the annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival for over a decade.
Early years
Born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Rea grew up in Utica
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
, New York. He first took up the guitar at the age of nine, inspired by Mike Nesmith of The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
, not realizing that the band did not even play their own instruments at the time.
Two of Rea's most important influences were the György Ligeti
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
compositions on the 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
soundtrack and the King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
album In the Court of the Crimson King
In the Court of the Crimson King
In the Court of the Crimson King is the 1969 debut album by the British progressive rock group King Crimson. The album reached No. 5 on the British charts, and is certified gold in the United States....
. In a 2001 interview in Exposé magazine Rea comments on the impact on his music: "The former opened my ears to expanded conceptions of form and tonality and to the world of 'extended' instrumental technique, and Ligeti remains my favorite composer to this day. The latter showed me that rock music could be so much more than the usual foursquare pounding with juvenile lyrics."
Other music which influenced Rea's development included progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
bands Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band was known for the complexity and sophistication of its music and for the varied musical skills of its members. All of the band members, except the first two drummers, were multi-instrumentalists...
, Matching Mole
Matching Mole
Matching Mole was a short-lived UK progressive rock band from the Canterbury scene best known for the song "O Caroline". Robert Wyatt formed the band in October 1971 after he left Soft Machine and recorded his first solo album The End of an Ear...
, Van der Graaf Generator
Van der Graaf Generator
Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester. They were the first act signed to Charisma Records. The band achieved considerable success in Italy during the 1970s...
, Henry Cow
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...
, and Centipede
Centipede (band)
Centipede were an English jazz/progressive rock/Canterbury sound big band with more than 50 members, organized and led by the British free jazz pianist Keith Tippett...
. He credits King Crimson and Soft Machine
Soft Machine
Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...
with his abiding interest in modern jazz and credits his brother with introducing him to the music of Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...
, Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
, and Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
. Rea also cites experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
, Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
, and John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
as lasting influences. Guitarists who influenced Rea's playing style include John Abercrombie
John Abercrombie (guitarist)
John Abercrombie is an American jazz guitarist, whose work often explores jazz fusion and post bop. Abercrombie has played with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker...
, Terje Rypdal
Terje Rypdal
Terje Rypdal is a Norwegian guitarist and composer. Most of his music has been released on albums of the German record label ECM. Rypdal has collaborated both as a guitarist and as a composer with other ECM artists such as Ketil Bjørnstad and David Darling...
, John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
, and Ralph Towner
Ralph Towner
Ralph Towner is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion and trumpet.-Biography:...
In the early 1970s Rea formed what he describes as an "eccentric progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band", Zuir, with bassist
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Norm Peach
Norm Peach
Norm Peach is an American bassist from Utica, New York who was a member of Earthstar during the late 1970s. He also played with Dennis Rea and Daniel Zongrone in Zuir prior to joining Earthstar. He appeared on two Earthstar albums: Salterbarty Tales and French Skyline .-References:*Album liner...
and drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
mer Daniel Zongrone
Daniel Zongrone
Daniel Zongrone is an American musician currently living in Greenville, South Carolina. Zongrone is best known for his work as a member of the electronic music group Earthstar in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is currently a solo jazz musician working with various local musicians.In 1986...
. The three young musicians decided to skip college to pursue their musical careers. In 1975
1975 in music
-January–April:*January 2 - New York City U.S. District Court Judge Richard Owen rules that former Beatle John Lennon and his lawyers can have access to Department of Immigration files pertaining to his deportation case....
the trio moved to Seattle but found no more interest in their music than they had found in upstate New York, returning to Utica the following year. In an interview in Exposé Magazine Rea recalled that Zuir was "perhaps the first out-of-state rock band to seek its fortune in Seattle - only 20 years too early."
Earthstar
Earthstar was the brainchild of keyboardist/synthesist Craig WuestCraig Wuest
Craig Wuest is an American keyboardist currently based in Atlanta, Georgia. He is best known as the founder and leader of the electronic music group Earthstar during the 1970s and 1980s. Earthstar was only American band who participated in Germany's Kosmische Musik/electronic music scene while...
. A native of Utica, New York, Wuest was heavily influenced by the German electronic music scene of the 1970s, including Klaus Schulze
Klaus Schulze
Klaus Schulze is a German electronic music composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried. He was briefly a member of the electronic bands Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before launching a solo career consisting of more than 60 albums released across five decades.-1970s:In...
, Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh (German band)
Popol Vuh was a German electronic avantgarde band, in the mainstream-media so called Krautrock, founded by pianist and keyboardist Florian Fricke in 1969 together with Holger Trülzsch and Frank Fiedler...
, Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member...
, Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
, and Harmonia
Harmonia (band)
Harmonia is a Krautrock supergroup from Germany. They formed as a collaboration between Michael Rother of Neu! and Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Möbius of Cluster and later included the British musician Brian Eno.-Musical style:...
. Earthstar was born out of the partnership of Wuest and the members of Zuir, plus other Utica-area musicians. In 1977 Earthstar was signed by Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
-based Moontower Records, who released the group's first album, Salterbarty Tales
Salterbarty Tales
Salterbarty Tales is the debut album by the American electronic band Earthstar. Salterbarty Tales was recorded in 1977 and 1978 and released by Moontower Records in 1978. The album is the only release to feature significant grand piano sections performed by Craig Wuest with relatively basic...
, the following year. Earthstar also began recording its second album, French Skyline
French Skyline
French Skyline is the second full-length album by the American electronic band Earthstar. It was their first release for Hamburg, Germany–based Sky Records....
, in 1978. Rea recalls concerts during the period when Earthstar was in Utica: "The group performed live only a handful of times, mostly at inappropriate venues like roadhouse bars and college beer halls, with predictable results."
Craig Wuest was an admirer of electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze
Klaus Schulze
Klaus Schulze is a German electronic music composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried. He was briefly a member of the electronic bands Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before launching a solo career consisting of more than 60 albums released across five decades.-1970s:In...
, with whom he struck up a correspondence. Schulze encouraged Wuest and Earthstar to come to Germany. Wuest sold his grand piano, which had played a prominent part on Salterbarty Tales, to finance the move. Rea and other Earthstar musicians joined Wuest in Germany to continue work on French Skyline. Rea describes his own decision to travel to Germany in his 2006 book Live At The Forbidden City:
"I was one of several old Utica mates invited to participate in the project. Since the prospect of making a record with international music luminaries was an offer I couldn't refuse, I dropped my plans to attend music school and instead spent half a year in the countryside near HannoverHanoverHanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
working on Earthstar sessions..."
Earthstar was signed by Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
-based Sky Records
Sky Records
Sky Records was a Hamburg, Germany based independent record label specializing in Krautrock/Kosmische Musik and electronic music. Some of their releases could be classified as progressive rock or art rock, experimental music, industrial, ambient, or New Age...
, who released the group's next three albums beginning with French Skyline in 1979
1979 in music
See also:Record labels established in 1979* 1979 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1979.-January–February:*January 1...
. Earthstar is notable as the only American band who participated in Germany's Kosmische Musik/electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
scene while still at its height. The association with Klaus Schulze guaranteed Earthstar recognition and respectable record sales by German electronic music standards.
During parts of 1979 and 1980 Rea lived near the town of Celle
Celle
Celle is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the River Aller, a tributary of the Weser and has a population of about 71,000...
. In addition to guitar he played chorded zither
Autoharp
The autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither. -History:There is debate over the...
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
during subsequent Earthstar sessions and composed pieces which appeared on the third album, Atomkraft? Nein, Danke!
Atomkraft? Nein, Danke!
Atomkraft? Nein, Danke! is the third full-length album by the American electronic band Earthstar. It was their second release for the Hamburg, Germany-based Sky Records on February 1, 1981. Atomkraft? Nein, Danke! was recorded during 1979 and 1980 at Deponté la Rue Studio in Paris, France, and IC...
(1981), and on tracks for a fourth album, Sleeper, the Nightlifer, which was never released. Rea left Earthstar after the Sleeper, the Nightlifer sessions and did not appear on the group's final album.
1982 - 1989: Seattle and New York
Rea returned to Seattle after the Earthstar sessions, where he met electronic composer Kerry Leimer, who had released a number of albums on the independent Palace of Lights record label. In 1981 Leimer, looking to create experimental electronic music that was also danceable, had formed the group Savant. Rea joined Savant in 1982, contributing to the album The Neo-Realist (at Risk), described by Downbeat magazine as "pan-ethnic techno-dub music." At about the same time Rea met ambientAmbient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
musician and composer Jeff Greinke
Jeff Greinke
Jeff Greinke is an American ambient music and jazz artist and composer currently based in Tucson, Arizona. He is known as one of the pioneers of dark ambient music, with his earlier solo albums often compared to works by Robert Rich, Brian Eno, and Vidna Obmana...
, with whom he would later collaborate extensively.
In 1983 Rea moved to New York City where he once again worked with ex-Zuir and Earthstar member Daniel Zongrone. The pair composed music for an exhibition of painter (and former Earthstar violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist) Daryl Trivieri's work at the Semaphore East Gallery in the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
in 1985.
Rea returned to Seattle in late 1986. There he co-directed the second Seattle Improvised Music Festival. He also added guitar work to Wally Shoup
Wally Shoup
Wally Shoup is an American jazz alto saxophonist and painter. Based in Seattle, Washington since 1985, Shoup is a mainstay of that city's improvised music scene...
's 1987 release Upright and to Doug Haire's solo album Locale, which was released in 1992. During this period Rea played with the bands Color Anxiety and Calabatics, with whom he recorded tracks which appeared on compilation albums of Seattle bands in 1988. Later that year Rea played guitar on the soundtrack of the motion picture Shredder Orpheus, composed by Roland Barker. Barker, Bill Rieflin, and Amy Denio
Amy Denio
Amy Denio is a Seattle -based multi-instrumental composer of soundtracks for modern dance, film and theater, as well as a songwriter and music improviser. Often called an unclassifiable avant-garde jazz musician, she is also deeply inspired by world music. She is probably best known as a...
also took part in the sessions.
1989 - 1990: Chengdu, China
In January 1989, Rea moved to ChengduChengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
, China after his fiancée, Anne Joiner, accepted a teaching position at Chengdu University of Science & Technology as part of an academic exchange. Rea also accepted a position teaching English at the university. Rea was approached to perform for the university's guitar club and a young Chinese guitarist, Zhao Xiong, was in attendance. Zhao, who proceeded to take lessons from Rea, was president of the informal Chengdu Guitar Association and he arranged for Rea to perform at venues ranging from schools to the Worker's Cultural Palace and even a textile factory. During this time Rea began interpreting traditional Chinese music which continues to influence his current works. In late spring, 1989, Rea also lectured twice at the Sichuan Music Conservatory, which he described as "the hub of music education in southwest China and Tibet": once on jazz, once on electric guitar technique.
In the wake of the events of June 4-June 6, 1989 in Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...
and the civil unrest and violence in Chengdu which he witnessed first hand, Rea was one of less than a dozen foreigners still living in the city. To his "lasting embarrassment" he was portrayed on Chinese state television as one of a few "brave foreign friends who stayed through the conflict to show their support for the government's policies."
In late 1989 Rea was granted permission to organize two concerts for students at the university. He was also invited to the studios of state-owned Sichuan Radio to make a multitrack recording which was broadcast throughout the province, and also began to collaborate with well-known regional musicians.
n January 1990 Rea played guitar in support of controversial Chinese pop star Zhang Xing in concerts in Chengdu and Chongqing
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
, making him an instant celebrity in China. In the spring of that year Rea was approached to record and produce an album of his music for state-owned China Records. His first solo album, Shadow In Dreams, was made in just four days at China Records' Chengdu studio. It was released on cassette that summer and sold over 40,000 copies throughout the country. The recording was listed among the ten best releases of 1990 by the Communist Party newspaper China Youth Daily
China Youth Daily
The China Youth Daily is the official newspaper of Communist Youth League of China , and is a popular official daily newspaper and the first independently operated central government news media portal in the People's Republic of China.In 1980s it was regarded as the best newspaper in mainland...
.
1990 - 1993: Tainan, Taiwan, Identity Crisis, and The Vagaries
In April 1990, Rea and his wife moved to Tainan City, TaiwanTaiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. He formed the band Identity Crisis, mainly with other expatriate musicians. Identity Crisis played roughly 30 shows over the winter of 1990-1991 and had a small, largely expatriate following. They found more receptive audiences in mainland China thanks to an invitation to perform by Chinese rocker Cui Jian
Cui Jian
Cui Jian is a Beijing-based Chinese singer-songwriter, trumpeter and guitarist. Affectionately called "Old Cui" , he is considered to be a pioneer in Chinese rock music and one of the first Chinese artists to write rock songs...
.
Identity Crisis arrived in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
in early April, 1991, where they played a number of public and private performances over a 10-day period, including shows featuring Chinese rock bands such as Cobra and ADO, as well as Cui Jian himself. Cui Jian joined Identity Crisis on stage during one performance at Maxim's. The band then moved on to Chengdu for ten days where Rea arranged five sizable university concerts, a concert staged by Chengdu TV, and smaller performances at a few local bars and pubs. Identity Crisis was also invited by Yang Shichun, who had produced Shadow In Dreams, to record an album for the China Record Company. The release was ultimately blocked by company officials in Beijing for political reasons as Yang had not received proper clearance for an album by a foreign artists. Upon their return to Tainan the members of Identity Crisis found that interest in the band had increased dramatically as a result of their association with Cui Jian.
In the fall of 1991 Rea received an invitation to perform and represent the United States in the China International TV Festival. The Vagaries were a new group Rea assembled specifically for the occasion which included keyboardist
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
/saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
Roland Barker, drummer Bill Rieflin, keyboardist/vocalist Charley Rowan, and electric bassist Mike Davidson, with rehearsals taking place in Seattle. In addition to the CCTV appearance, which was viewed by hundreds of millions of people in China and neighboring countries, The Vagaries toured China with 20 concerts in the cities of Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming
Kunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
, and Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
(Canton).
In 1992 a crackdown on expatriate musicians by Taiwanese officials caused Identity Crisis to disband. Rea continued to perform with other groups he assembled and continued to teach English until he moved back to Seattle in February 1993.
1993 - 2005: LAND, Eric Apoe and They, Stackpole
In 1993 Jeff GreinkeJeff Greinke
Jeff Greinke is an American ambient music and jazz artist and composer currently based in Tucson, Arizona. He is known as one of the pioneers of dark ambient music, with his earlier solo albums often compared to works by Robert Rich, Brian Eno, and Vidna Obmana...
, an ambient musician and composer Rea first met in Seattle in the early 1980s, put together a new ensemble called Land
Land (band)
Land was a Seattle based music group founded and led by Jeff Greinke. Their music is described by guitarist Dennis Rea as "an odd blend of jazz, rock, electronic, and world music." Land was active from 1993 until 2001 and released three albums...
. Greinke had previously been known for his textured compositions but with Land he wanted "to push this layering technique using a four piece band..." Rea and trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
er Lesli Dalaba were original members and were soon joined by drummer Ed Pias. Rea remained with the group throughout its lifespan. He described Land's music as "an odd blend of jazz, rock, electronic, and world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
." in 1993 Rea also supported Greinke on sessions for his solo album Big Weather, released in 1994, adding guitar work to two tracks. Land's eponymous debut album
LAND (album)
Land is the eponymous first full-length album by the American group Land. Land was recorded at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle in 1994 and released by the Australian label Extreme in 1995...
was recorded in 1994 and released by the Australian Extreme label in 1995. All of Land's albums started out as live radio broadcasts with, according to Rea, "...very little re-recording or cosmetic surgery after the fact, so they are accurate representations of the band's live sound."
A May, 1996 concert broadcast formed the basis for most of Land's second album, Archipelago
Archipelago (album)
Archipelago is the second album by the American group Land, who blend jazz, rock, and world music. A May, 1996 concert broadcast formed the basis for most of the album, Archipelago. "Deep", the final track for Archipelago, was recorded in February of 1997, with finishing touches completed in July...
. Later that year Rea arranged for Land to tour China, performing in Beijing, Kunming, and Chengdu, as well as Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
, in November and December. The tour included a performance at the Beijing International Jazz Festival. Rea also performed with Land's Lesli Dalaba (trumpet), guzheng
Guzheng
The guzheng or "gu zheng", also called zheng is a Chinese plucked zither. It has 18-23 or more strings and movable bridges....
virtuoso Wang Yong, Austrian violinist Andreas Schreiber, Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
drummer Han Bennink, and Claudio Puntin and Steffen Schorn on horns at Keep In Touch, reportedly China's first internet cafe
Internet cafe
An Internet café or cybercafé is a place which provides internet access to the public, usually for a fee. These businesses usually provide snacks and drinks, hence the café in the name...
. The jam session produced a mixture of American style free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
and European influenced improvisation blended at times with traditional Chinese music. The results were captured on the album Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in Touch
Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in Touch
Free Touching: Live at Keep in Touch is a live recording of improvisational performances by Chinese guzheng virtuoso Wang Yong and six international musicians: Dutch jazz drummer Han Bennink, Austrian violinist Andreas Schreiber, American guitarist Dennis Rea, American trumpeter Lesli Dalaba, and...
, which was released as a double CD in March, 2004. February 1997 also saw the recording of "Deep", the final track for Archipelago, with finishing touches completed in July. The album was released later that year. Rea also contributed guitar work to the track "Threads", which appeared on Greinke's 1998 album Swimming.
By 1998 Land had gone through a number of personnel changes and had developed a much harder-edged sound. Andrew Bartlett, writing in a 1999 article in Seattle Weekly
Seattle Weekly
Seattle Weekly is a freely distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as The Weekly...
, described the music at that time, in part: "LAND's sound is a swirl — a clicking, cascading, jolting mix of sonorities and styles." Rea is quoted in the article: "The current lineup is more of a 'rock' band than earlier editions, and is much more explosive and in-your-face. Our connection with ambient music is pretty tenuous at this point." The final incarnation of the band, which recorded the album Road Movies
Road Movies (album)
Road Movies is the third and final album by the American group Land. Road Movies was recorded between June, 1998 & February, 1999 at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle and was released on February 13, 2001 on the First World Music label...
between June, 1998 and February 1999, included Greinke, Rea, Dalaba, bassist Fred Chalenor, and drummer Bill Rieflin, who had previously worked with Rea in The Vagaries and on the Shredder Orpheus soundtrack. Road Movies was not released until 2001. It was named one of the Top Ten releases of 2001 by Pulse! (Instrumental/Ambient) and the Seattle Weekly (Jazz). Lesli Dalaba decided to leave Land later that year and the remaining members agreed to part company amicably.
In February, 1993 Rea also joined The Furnace, the original band supporting veteran singer-songwriter Eric Apoe. The band gave its first performance on New Year's Eve that year. Rea played electric guitar on Songs of Love and Doom, released in 1996. In the wake of some personnel changes the band was renamed Eric Apoe and They. Rea performed on four additional albums: Dream Asylum (2000), Radioation (2002), Book of Puzzles (2005) and The Man in the Sun (2008), all released on the Soundtrack Boulevard label. Apoe describes his music with They as "...a blend of American and European Roots music" with a "...combination of electric and acoustic instruments..."
Between 1998 and 2001 Rea was also the leader of the improvisational free jazz quartet Stackpole, which won a Golden Ear award from Earshot Jazz magazine for Best Northwest Outside Jazz Group in 2000
2000 in music
See also:* 2000 in music Record labels established in 2000-Events:*January – Gary Glitter is released from jail, two months before his sentence for sexual offences ends.*January 1**John Tavener is knighted in the New Year's Honours List....
. Stackpole released a self-titled album in 2001. During this period Rea also appeared on albums by Rik Wright and the duo of Craig Flory and Doug Haire. He also contributed to two tracks on the Infrasound Collective' compilation album Owasso Night Atlas, released in 2000. Rea contributed guitar work to the song "In the Middle of the Night" on Hector Zazou
Hector Zazou
Hector Zazou was a prolific French composer and record producer who worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists...
's 2003 album Strong Currents.
Discography
In Earthstar
Earthstar (band)
Earthstar was an electronic music group originally from Utica, New York, in the United States. Earthstar was encouraged by Krautrock/Kosmische Musik/electronic music artist, composer, and producer Klaus Schulze to relocate to Germany where they were signed by Sky Records. Schulze produced their...
- 1978 : Salterbarty TalesSalterbarty TalesSalterbarty Tales is the debut album by the American electronic band Earthstar. Salterbarty Tales was recorded in 1977 and 1978 and released by Moontower Records in 1978. The album is the only release to feature significant grand piano sections performed by Craig Wuest with relatively basic...
(studio album) - 1979 : French SkylineFrench SkylineFrench Skyline is the second full-length album by the American electronic band Earthstar. It was their first release for Hamburg, Germany–based Sky Records....
(studio album) - 1981 : Atomkraft? Nein, Danke!Atomkraft? Nein, Danke!Atomkraft? Nein, Danke! is the third full-length album by the American electronic band Earthstar. It was their second release for the Hamburg, Germany-based Sky Records on February 1, 1981. Atomkraft? Nein, Danke! was recorded during 1979 and 1980 at Deponté la Rue Studio in Paris, France, and IC...
(studio album)
In Savant
- 1983 : The Neo-Realist (At Risk) (studio album)
In LAND
Land (band)
Land was a Seattle based music group founded and led by Jeff Greinke. Their music is described by guitarist Dennis Rea as "an odd blend of jazz, rock, electronic, and world music." Land was active from 1993 until 2001 and released three albums...
- 1995 : LANDLAND (album)Land is the eponymous first full-length album by the American group Land. Land was recorded at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle in 1994 and released by the Australian label Extreme in 1995...
(studio album) - 1997 : ArchipelagoArchipelago (album)Archipelago is the second album by the American group Land, who blend jazz, rock, and world music. A May, 1996 concert broadcast formed the basis for most of the album, Archipelago. "Deep", the final track for Archipelago, was recorded in February of 1997, with finishing touches completed in July...
(live album) - 2001 : Road MoviesRoad Movies (album)Road Movies is the third and final album by the American group Land. Road Movies was recorded between June, 1998 & February, 1999 at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle and was released on February 13, 2001 on the First World Music label...
(studio album)
In Eric Apoe and They
- 2000 : Dream Asylum (studio album)
- 2002 : Radioation (studio album)
- 2005 : Book of Puzzles (studio album)
- 2008 : The Man in the Sun (studio album)
In Stackpole
- 2001: Stackpole (studio album)
with Han Bennink
Han Bennink
Han Bennink is a Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured his playing on clarinet, violin, banjo and piano....
, Wang Yong, Andreas Schreiber,
Steffen Schorn, Claudio Puntin, and Lesli Dalaba
- 2004 : Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in TouchFree Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in TouchFree Touching: Live at Keep in Touch is a live recording of improvisational performances by Chinese guzheng virtuoso Wang Yong and six international musicians: Dutch jazz drummer Han Bennink, Austrian violinist Andreas Schreiber, American guitarist Dennis Rea, American trumpeter Lesli Dalaba, and...
(live album)
In Ting Bu Dong
- 2008 : Ting Bu Dong (studio album)
In Moraine
- 2009 : Manifest Density (studio album)
In Iron Kim Style
- 2010 : Iron Kim Style (studio album)
Solo Albums
- 1990 : Shadow In Dreams (studio album)
- 2010 : Views From Chicheng Precipice (studio album)
supporting Wally Shoup
- 1987 : Upright (studio album)
supporting Doug Haire
- 1992 : Locale (studio album)
supporting Jeff Greinke
Jeff Greinke
Jeff Greinke is an American ambient music and jazz artist and composer currently based in Tucson, Arizona. He is known as one of the pioneers of dark ambient music, with his earlier solo albums often compared to works by Robert Rich, Brian Eno, and Vidna Obmana...
- 1994 : Big Weather (studio album)
- Tracks: The Happy Isles, River Limba
- 1998 : Swimming (studio album)
- Track: Threads
supporting Eric Apoe
- 1996 : Songs of Love and Doom (studio album)
supporting Craig Flory and Doug Haire
- 1998 : Wigwam Bendix (studio album)
- Track: Wigwam Breakdown
supporting Rik Wright
- 2000 : Bleeding Laughter (studio album)
- Track: Emotional Slang
supporting Hector Zazou
Hector Zazou
Hector Zazou was a prolific French composer and record producer who worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists...
- 2003 : Strong Currents (studio album)
- Track: "In the Middle of the Night"
supporting Chekov
- 2008 : Born to be Quiet (studio album)
- Track: "For Absent Friends"
Compilations
with Color Anxiety- 1988 : Secretions (C/Z Records LP sampler)
- Track: Body Parts
with Calabatics
- 1988 : Third Seattle Improvised Music Festival"
- Track: untitled improvisation
with Infrasound Collective
- 2000 : Owasso Night Atlas
- Tracks: Edge Trio, Tentacle Steel Mill Session
External links
- First World Music home page. Retrieved October 18, 2007.